Are there any statements or ideas you try to convey through your
music, political or otherwise?
Andreas: Leftfield and left-wing! [laughs] Of course it's not fascist
ideals. Ideas of freedom. People get different ideas of how they can
define their own way of living because there's lots of boundaries.
There's society, government, your job and everything, and people maybe
realise they can go their own way. If they do a job, they should love the
job don't you think so?
Kreidler make their own videos and are involved in art. Tell us
a bit about that.
Andreas: We have a (video) installation three days after returning from
this trip in Barcelona. We do concerts in galleries such as Centre
Pompidou in Paris and the Van Dijk Retrospektive in Antwerp but we also
play at festivals like Roskilde and Sonar. It's great to do both. The
art always has something to do with the music. Detlef studied art and he
sometimes has small exhibitions and did the cover art for the last three
records and also cover art for other musicians.
Are Kreidler still based in Düsseldorf?
Andreas: I live in Cologne but Kreidler is Düsseldorf because Cologne is
different. I think Kreidler is very Düsseldorf. The attitude is very
Düsseldorf.
So Düsseldorf has a very distinct attitude, different from other
cities?
Andreas: Yup, very different. Düsseldorf is a horrible city. I lived in
Düsseldorf for 10 years and it's really horrible because it's a really
cold city. In the last few months there have been clubs opening, but last
year there were no nightclubs or concert venues and it was really dead and
very (bleak). All the insurance companies and banks are there, but it has
a very beautiful surface, it's very clean. Cologne was 99 percent
destroyed in the second World War.
So was Düsseldorf.
Andreas: Yes, but Düsseldorf was rebuilt beautifully, whereas Cologne is
very close [gestures with hands, depicting narrow streets]. People in
Cologne are completely different.
So Düsseldorf is a very cold place?
Andreas: Yeah, but it keeps you working. You make good stuff in
Düsseldorf because there's not much distractions and you are really
focussed. That's what's great about Düsseldorf.
There must be a history of good music coming out of Düsseldorf.
Andreas: Yeah, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Klaus Dinger, La Düsseldorf, Antonelli
Electr., Bad Examples and in the '80s lots of new wave and punk,
everything came from Düsseldorf. But Cologne also has this. You can't
number how many. It's also different, in Düsseldorf everybody is in
competition with the others. In Cologne it's more like a big family. You
share and you meet everybody in the bar. In Düsseldorf people are less
friendly, not so much in music, but in the arts business it's horrible. I
couldn't believe it. In Cologne you feel lucky when another artist
becomes famous, you say "It's great that you've become famous" and you're not
going "But I want to become famous!".
What are Kreidler's plans? A new album?
Andreas: Yeah, we are recording it and when we get back we have to finish
it. Lots of the stuff we played tonight is from the new album. In
January we may release a 12 inch single.
Thanks so much for your time. Anything else you'd like to say?
Andreas: [pauses] We love Kuala Lumpur! We love the people of Kuala
Lumpur! We'd like to come back. It was amazing, we got a good reaction
and if you get a good reaction you can give back a good reaction.
-Words: Keith / Images: Jun Kit
- Many thanks to Patsy of Goethe.
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